Doorcheck and control device therefor



Jan. 3, 1933. Q ROGERS 1,892,811

DOORCHECK AND CONTROL DEVICE THEREFOR Filed Dec. 29, 1930 l INVENTOR v CLflRENCEZROGERS 50 BY V MQW ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 3, 1933 PATENT OFFECE CLARENCE '1. ROGERS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

DOORCHECK AND CONTROL DEVICE THEREFOR Application filed December 29, 1930. Serial No. 505,301.

This invention relates to a doorcheck and to a control device therefor.

' The object of this invention is to facilitate retaining a door ajar at any preferred open- 5 ing against the action of the doorcheck normally tending to maintain the door in closed position.

Another object of this invention is an in expensive control device for doorcheck mechanisms.

In accordance with this invention a collar which may be in the form of an unbalanced lever is slidably secured upon the piston rod of the doorcheck and isprovided with means a for securing said mechanism upon said piston rod against relative movement when force is applied to said piston in the operation of restoring the door to the closed position.

In the drawing comprising but a single sheet of seven figures numbered Figures 1 to 7 inclusive, certain embodiments of the invention are diagrammatically set forth.

Figure 1 is a perspective of one form of doorcheck embodying my invention showing the same secured to a door and door jamb which are partially broken away.

Figure 2 is an enlargement in elevation of the form of doorcheck of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective of a detail of the 0 doorcheck of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a view in elevation of a modification.

' F igure 5 is a perspective of a detail of the modified form shown in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a section of another modification of the devices of Figures 3 and 5.

Figure 7 is a transverse section view of the modification of Figure 6.

Like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures.

Referring to Figure 1 the doorcheck 8 is secured to the brackets 1111 by the pintles 13-13. The brackets in turn are secured to o the door 9 and door jamb 10 by suitable screw fasteners 1212.

The doorcheck embodied in Figures 2 and 4 consists essentially of a fluid controlled piston mechanism contained in the cylinder 14. The piston mechanism may be of any preferred form such for example as that disclosed in Figure 4 of the patent to I-Iarrah et al. No. 1,769,289 granted July 1, 1930, wherein the piston rod 31 of the said patent would correspond to piston rod 15 of the structure of Figures 2 and 4 of the present application.

To the upper (outer) end of the piston rod 15, is secured a T shaped bracket 16. A pair of links and 26 are pivoted at 29 and 30 respectively to the bracket 16, and a second pair of links 27 and 28 are pivoted at 31 and 32 to a pair of cars 33 and 34 extending laterally outwards from opposite sides of the base of the wall of the cylinder 14. The outer ends of links 25 and 27 are pivotally secured at 35 and 37 respectively to a U shaped bracket 39, while the outer ends of brackets 26 and 28 are similarly pivoted at 36 and .38 to a similar U shaped bracket 40. The

brackets 39 and 40 are pivotally secured to fie blrackets 11-11 (Figure 1) by the pintles A pair of springs 41 and 42 are secured in suitable openings 45, 46, 47 and 48 of the links 25 to 28 respectively.

The principle of o eration of the doorcheck is as follows. 11 the closed position of the door, the piston head (not shown) would be positioned in the head of the cylinder 14, and the springs 41 and 42 would be under normal tension to retain the door 9 (Figure 1) in closed position. In the operation of opening the door 9 however, the U shaped bracket 40 tends to approach the U shaped bracket 39, and the links 25-27, 26-28 are accordingly elongated against the tension of the coiled springs 41 and 42. JV hen the links 25 to 28 are elongated, the T shaped bracket 16 to which the piston rod 15 is secured is forced upwards and away from the cylinder 14. The piston head not shown in detail is carried upwards by the rod 15 until in the partially opened position of the door, indicated in Figure 1, the moving parts of the doorcheck 8 would assume a position substantially as shown in Figure 2. On opening the door 9 to the full extent the T shaped bracket 16 would be forced upwards and y from the cylinder 14 unf upon the rate of flow of the fluid der the action of the links 25 to 28 inclusive until the piston rod carrying the piston is withdrawn to the maximum extent from the cylinder 14-.

The fluid contained within cylinder 1 will flow quite readily from the upper to the lower side of the piston head as the piston rod 15 is withdrawn from cylinder 14, in fact in the embodiment disclosed in Figure 1 the rapidity of the opening action of the door 9iwill be controlled by the rate of movement of piston rod 15, which will in turn depend in the cylinder 14; past the piston iead. The rate of flow of the fluid may be regulated by the adjusting device 60.

W hen the door is released the energ which was stored up in the retractile springs by he elongation of the links 25.27 and 2628 tends to force the T shaped bracket 16 downwards in the direction of the cylinder 14. The piston rod 15 and consequently its piston head (not shown) are moved downwards towards the cylinder head against the retarding action resulting from the slow passage of the fluid from beneath the piston head into the ever increasing chamber formed behind the piston head in its downward movement. The downward movement of the piston 15 would ordinarily continue until the door 9 was once more restored to its closed position were it not for the effect produced by the lever 50 which is slidably mounted upon the piston rod 15.

The lever 50 carried by the rod 15 moves downwards with the rod until the spur-like projection 51 of the former contacts with the shoulder 52 of the cylinder casing 14 when the further movement of the lever 50 and consequently of the piston rod 15 is arrested, and the door 9 remains ajar as illustrated in Figure 1. The operation of the lever 50 is unique in this respect that the greater the force exerted upon the piston rod 15 (and consequently upon the projection 51 of lever 50) by the retractile springs 41 and i2, the more securely will the lever 50 remain locked against any sliding movement upon the piston rod 15.

Referring to the lever 50 it will be observed that it may be of any desired shape whether annular (Figure 3), or an elongated metal punching 53 (Figure 5).

In either case it consists of a lever having an eccentrically disposed opening 54, large enough to permit the lever 50 (or 53) to slide freely along the piston rod 15 when the wall of the opening 54L- is parallel to the aXis of the piston. The lever 50 (or is provided with a comparatively heavily weighted end portion 55 which is adapted to unbalance the lever and cause it to turn upon the piston rod 15 as a fulcrum, until the lever arm occupies a plane inclined to the surface of the piston rod 15 with the edge of the wall of the lever opening 54 gripping the surface of the piston rod thus locking the lever to the piston rod to prevent relative movement. To release the lever for the purpose of moving it relative to the piston rod it is merely necessary to lift the weighted side of the lever (or 53) until the lever arm occupies a substantially horizontal plane when the lever will slide freely along the piston rod. it therefore appears that the lever may be clamped at any desired point upon the piston rod 15, and that the angle at which the door remains ajar varies in accordance with the position of the lever with respect to the piston rod, the door remaining ajar at the maximum angle when the lever 50 (or 53) is clamped to the piston rod as close to the piston head as possible. Conversely when the lever is moved to a position substantially conforming to the dotted line positions of Figures 2 and 4 the return movement of the piston rod 15 will not be arrested, and the doorcheclt 8 will operate to fully close the door just as if the lever was entirely omitted.

An alternative form of manually operated clamping mechanism which may be substituted for the levers 50 or 53 is indicated in Figures 6 and 7. It may consist of a collar 56 slidably adjustable along the piston rod 15, arovided with a shoe 57 conforming in contour to the contour of a section of the pisston rod 15, the shoe being clamped against the piston rod 15 by the rotation of a thumb screw 58. A lock nut 59 may also be employed in conjunction with thumb screw 58 if desired.

It should be observed that the spur like projection 51 must be of suiiicient length to iermit all other parts of the lever 50 (or 53) to clear all parts of the upper surface of the casing of the cylinder 14 so that the only point of contact between the lever and the cylinder 14 is that occasioned by the spur like projection 51 pressing against the shoulder 52.

It is understood that I do not confine my invention to the particular form of doorcheck shown in the drawing. My invention maybe applied to retaining or stopping any reciprocating body in a desired position such as the control of the table of a planer or similar machine.

hat is claimed is:

1. As a new article of manufacture a gravity controlled lever having an opening therethrough defining the fulcrum point thereof, one arm of said lever being comparatively light and terminating in a downwardly projecting spur-like extension, and the other arm of said lever being relatively heavy to cause said lever to be unbalanced when fulcrumed whereby it is tilted so that the walls of the said opening frictionally engage the fulcruming means to lock the lever thereon in such a manner that the spur-like extension projects below the horizontal plane passing through the lever fulcrum.

2. In a door check and in combination, a cylinder, a piston rod slidably reciprocable therein to and from its normal position, and a gravity controlled lever having an opening therethrough whereon said lever is freely slidably mounted on said piston rod when held at right angles relative thereto against the influence of gravity, one arm of said lever being comparatively light and terminating in a downwardly projecting spur-like extension, and the other arm of said lever being relatively heavy to cause said lever to be unbalanced and tilt about the piston rod as a fulcrum until the walls of the said opening frictionally engage the piston rod to lock the lever thereon with the spur-like extension projecting below the horizontal plane of the fulcrum so that the free extremity of said extension engages the cylinder casing thereby arresting the further return to normal movement of the piston rod while the tendency of the piston rod to continue its return to normal movement against the arresting inter-action of the extension and the cylinder casing tends to further lock the lever upon the piston rod.

3. In a doorcheck and in combination, a cylinder, a piston rod, a spring, said piston rod being slidably reciprocable in said cylinder to increase and decrease the tension of said spring, and a gravity controlled lever having an opening therethrough whereon said lever is freely slidably mounted on said piston rod when held at right angles relative thereto against the influence of gravity, one arm of said lever being comparatively light and terminating in a downwardly projecting spur-like extension, and the other arm of said lever being relatively heavy to cause said lever to be unbalanced and tilt about the piston rod as a fulcrum until the walls of the said opening frictionally engage the piston rod to lock the lever thereon with the spur-like extension projecting below the horizontal plane of the fulcrum so that the free extremity of said extension engages the cylinder casing thereby arresting the further return to normal movement of the piston rod while the tendency of the piston rod to continue its return to normal movement against the arresting inter-action of the extension and the cylinder casing tends to further lock the lever upon the piston rod.

4. In a doorcheck and in combination, a cylinder; a piston rod; a spring; said piston rod being slidably reciprocable from and to its normal position in said cylinder to increase and decrease the tension of said spring; and a gravity controlled lever having an opening therethrough whereon said lever is freely slidably mounted on said piston rod when held at right angles relative thereto against the influence of gravity, one

arm of said lever being comparatively light and terminating in a downwardly projecting spur-like extension, and the other arm of said lever being relatively heavy to cause said lever to be unbalanced and tilt about the piston rod as a fulcrum until the walls of the said opening frictionally engage the piston rod to lock the lever thereon with the spurlike extension projecting below the horizontal plane of the fulcrum so that the free extremity of said extension engages the cylinder casing thereby arresting the further return to normal movement of the piston rod while the tendency of the piston rod-to continue its return to normal movement against the arresting inter-action of the extension and the cylinder casing tends to further lock the lever upon the piston rod.

5. In a doorcheck and in combination a piston rod reciprocable between its normal and off-normal positions, a framework therefor, and a gravity controlled lever having an opening therethrough whereon said lever is freely slidably mounted on said piston rod when held at right angles relative thereto against the influence of gravity, one arm of said lever being comparatively light and terminating in a downwardly projecting spurlike extension, and the other arm of said lever being relatively heavy to cause said lever to be unbalanced and tilt about the pis ton rod as a fulcrum until the walls of the said opening frictionally engage the piston rod to lock the lever thereon with the spurlike extension projecting below the horizontal plane of the fulcrum so that the free extremity of said extension engages the framework thereby arresting the further return to normal movement of the piston rod while the tendency of the piston rod to continue its return to normal movement against the arresting inter-action of the extension and the framework tends to further lock the lever upon the piston rod.

Signed at borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York.

CLARENCE T. ROGERS. 

